Whirlwind Fundraising Trip

11 days
2,200 miles
2 metroplexes (Dallas and Houston)
11 cities within those metroplexes

40 hours spent in our van driving
1 breakfast meeting
4 lunch meetings
3 dinner meetings
2 non-eating meetings
5 church groups where we shared
3 different homes where we slept
13 new friends that Ben and Nate got to meet - the children of our friends
8 hours of sleep lost while trying to comfort a crying baby or toddler that doesn't like sleeping away from home.
85 people heard about God's heart for the poor and our call to ministry!

The boys were happiest in people's homes and outdoors!

We are blessed. We were so greatly encouraged by the many people with whom we were able to share about our hearts for the ministry where we believe the Lord has called us! We are a part of a wonderful ministry that plants churches among the urban poor. Ryan's role is primarily in empowering and teaching the leaders of the churches that are being planted. Our family lives in the community in which we minister, so my primary role is in modeling a wife and mother that loves the Lord and investing in the women and families within our church plants. The purpose of this trip was to increase our financial support and the bonus was seeing so many wonderful friends and family, some that we have not seen in a few years. As missionaries, we are responsible for raising our entire support which is $3500 a month. Before leaving for this trip we were at 65%, needing another $1500 a month. We were amazed to watch God provide for us as so many people seemed excited to continue to pray for us and some added financial support.

This trip was definitely hard on our boys especially because of the busy schedule we kept and the many, many new places we took them. My boys are not good sleepers away from home and it seemed that the day we hit Dallas their allergies went crazy and we never fully recovered. Nate spent four hours napping on my chest one day and probably all but an hour or so that day on my hip. He felt so terrible and just cried which is a horrible, helpless feeling for me. Then, Ben woke one night screaming that his ear hurt because of all the mucus in his nose and throat. They both seemed so happy to be home this afternoon and Ben was excited to sleep in his own bed tonight. Their moods were noticeably different. We are excited that Nate will not be in a pack-n-play at the foot of our bed tonight!

Continue to pray for us as we raise our family in the city. Pray that God would use us to change the lives of people in poverty through the power of the Gospel. Pray that we would be faithful to his call on our lives. Pray that we would continue to add new prayer and financial supporters - we so strongly believe that we cannot do this alone!